This week in music

Ricky Eat Acid – “Hey”
Sam Ray, the mind behind electronic project Ricky Eat Acid, has already proved his artistic versatility. At 25, he has accomplished more than most will throughout their entire careers, releasing more than ten albums with various groups, including Baltimore’s Teen Suicide.

Ricky Eat Acid is where Ray shines. “Hey” the opening track off his album “Talk To You Soon,” dropped unexpectedly last month, captivating listeners with its entrancing melody dotted by distorted high-pitched moans. A third of the way into the track, the tempo picks up and fast-paced violins lead to a climax at the three-minute mark, with a glittery explosion of air horns and static leading seamlessly back into the sleepiness with which the song began. “Hey” sets the tone for the whole album, which is some of Ray’s best work yet.

“Talk To You Soon” was released Oct. 28.

Jeff Rosenstock – “Wave Goodnight to Me”
At first glance, Jeff Rosenstock may not look like your typical “punk rocker.” He sports a suit and floral tie as he strolls down Connecticut Avenue in his latest video for “Wave Goodnight To Me,” ending up in the back venue of Comet Ping Pong. Rosenstock has been making music for nearly twenty years and has been involved in more than thirty releases.

His most recent song, “Wave Goodnight to Me,” is a funny – bordering on cheesy – track with a music video that pokes fun at his own role in the music scene, as he is repeatedly told to get out and eventually is kicked out of a pizza joint by a mob of people after crashing a band’s set. The sound bears a resemblance to some of his earlier work with band Bomb The Music Industry! and has a melodic basis and gravely, exasperated vocals, like much of the work that made “punk” a household name decades ago.

Jeff Rosenstock will perform at DC9 Nov. 17. “Worry” was released Oct. 14.

Conor Oberst – “Tachycardia”

Last month, Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize in Literature for, as the committee put it, “having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.” Few – if any – folk artists have exhibited talent anywhere near as strong as Dylan, but Conor Oberst comes close. Oberst’s resume is lengthy, with his most notable work being his involvement in Bright Eyes, but in the past few years his focus has shifted to releasing as a solo artist.

“Tachycardia,” the opening track off of his latest album, “Ruminations,” is a beautiful spin on an arguably overdone topic. Listeners hear the narrative of a nameless man and woman, both struggling to deal with life’s characteristic mundanity. A bleary voice aches for relief (She spills the coffee grounds / and the same thought hits her like cinder block) but has lost the energy to seek an alternative way to act (Life’s an odd job that she don’t got the nerve to quit). The song could be interpreted as a metaphor for depression, or perhaps it is not that clinical. Oberst could be expressing the most uncomfortable of sentiments that are inherently human and hit us all from time to time.